Trainee becomes club manager in 10 months
31st January, 2012 by Alistair Dunsmuir
A 31-year-old man has been appointed as Redbourn Golf Club’s new general manager after just 10 months of a training programme.
Ian McDowell has taken charge of the St Albans venue after embarking on Burhill Golf & Leisure’s recently-launched Manager in Training (MiT) scheme. Redbourn is owned by Burhill.
Ian, who was only 10 months into the 18-month programme, worked alongside Mike O’Connell, senior general manager at Hoebridge Golf Centre in Woking, where he learnt the intricacies of the day-to-day management of a busy golf facility.
Ian – who was previously sales and marketing executive at The Wisley – quickly proved to be an invaluable asset to the centre and consistently produced results exceeding expectations.
“Ian’s skills at motivating staff and generating and implementing new initiatives complemented the desire of mine to continue the development of Hoebridge Golf Centre,” said Mike O’Connell. “With his experience in the golf industry and his desire to develop his skills he quickly progressed through the MiT programme.”
MiT offers aspiring managers the opportunity to gain experience and a working understanding of the role, while also providing on the job training and development through a structured programme and support.
Ian added: “I’m extremely excited about the job, it has come around a lot quicker than I was expecting but for the last few years I’ve felt I was able to take on a general manager’s role. It has been one of my goals to manage a golf club and now I’m here it has made the last 10 years of hard work worthwhile.
“Being at Hoebridge gave me an overall picture of the business and the work involved in running a multi-million pound facility. You have to learn very quickly as it’s non-stop, the MiT programme allowed me to experience management but have that safety net of great people around me to help.”
While Ian moves from Hoebridge to Redbourn, Howard Craft goes the other way. The former deputy course manager has become the second Burhill MiT and will begin his training with Mike to become a general manager in the future.